Payroll Q&A: Ask our product team anything about Square Payroll

[isabelle]

Hello Seller Community members! 👋 

On Thursday, December 16th, we hosted a Q&A with @swo and our Payroll team. With the end of 2021 fast approaching, the new year is always an ideal time of year to switch payroll providers. Switching at the end of the year simplifies the setup and tax filing process so you can kick off the new year on the right foot.

Recap on the latest features from earlier this year:

• Multiple Tax Jurisdiction - Square Payroll now supports payroll processing and tax filings for employees that live and work in different state or tax jurisdictions
• Tip Splitting by Transaction & Shift - With Square Payroll, sellers now have the ability to configure tip eligibility per job and tip pooling per shift. 
• Commission Tracking & Importing - Square Payroll users can now automatically import their team members’ commission from their Sales into their Payroll. 
• Split Paychecks - Team members can now opt into splitting a desired percentage of their direct deposit between two different bank accounts.

A few example questions:

• I'm considering Square Payroll for my retail store, what differentiates this service from other products?
• How long does it take for my employees to receive their direct deposit?
• If Square allowed me to do "______" with my payroll settings, it would save me so much time.

[kinoscoffee]

I have one Salary Employee that is tip eligible. I have her clock in during the hours she would be collecting tips but don't require her to clock in when she is roasting coffee or doing tasks where tips are not eligible. However when automatic payroll runs. It does pull in the tips from when she was clocked in, but it also pulls in her clocked hour rather than her salary "40 hours". If I cancel the payroll. Close out, and re-open it, it then pulls in the correct tips and 40 hours. Is there a reason Auto Run doesnt just ALWAYS pull the "40 hours"?

[swo]

Hi @kinoscoffee, thank you for bringing this up and sharing your experience with this. Selecting the “Overtime Exempt” option for this employee in the Payroll Team tab should allow automatic payroll to run with just the 40 hours for salary + her tips. Hope this helps!

[MzGlinn]

Square said that the contractors that i enrolled into payroll would be able to setup theri account from their end and complete their own tax forms. however the agents are telling me that there is not an option for them to do so. 

[swo]

Hi @MzGlinn, Sorry to hear your contractors are having a hard time setting up their accounts. You can view instructions here on getting them set up. They should have received an email inviting them to download the Square Team app (not Square Payroll). As long as your contractors got a welcome email, they should be able to set up their account on the web or via the Square Team App.

Hope this helps get everyone where they need to be!

[Esultimate]

Hi how do I manually enter an amount for a 1099 contractor for direct deposit 

[swo]

Hi @Esultimate! When processing a contractor payment, you can select “direct deposit” as the payment method and you have the option to manually input the amount you would like the contractor(s) in the “Amount” column. This is a good option if your contractors aren’t paid per hour or tracking their time with timecards.

[iCAM]

Just got square payroll. Won't let me add employer Tax rate. When I click add it just clears the text box and inputs nothing

[swo]

Hey @iCAM,

You won’t be able to save your Indiana Employer Tax Rate without also entering your Indiana Tax Identification Number (this must be exactly 13 digits, beginning with a 0) and your SUTA Tax Account Number (this must be exactly 6 digits), and then clicking Save changes. Hope this helps!

[haircrafterjo]

I would love more information about Square payroll!

What is the monthly cost for 1 employee?

Are taxes withdrawn each pay period and submitted to Federal + state departments?

I'd also like to know about other features.

Thank you, Josephine

[swo]

Hi @haircrafterjo! 

Square’s Employee and Contractor payroll is $35 per month plus $5 per employee or contractor paid that month. This price includes all Square Payroll features. Square’s Contractor Only Payroll has no base subscription fee and is just $5 per month per contractor paid. For 1 W-2 employee, the monthly price would be $40/mo. 

Square’s online payroll service handles your federal and state tax filings and payments on your behalf at no additional charge. Once these forms are filed with the appropriate agencies, you can download, save, and print each document. Taxes are withheld each pay run and remitted to the tax agencies on behalf of your business. 

You can read about all features included with a Square Payroll subscription in our Support Center here: Square Payroll FAQ.

[happy-belly]

Hello, wondering how do I correct an employee start date? I am not allowed to edit the date. Also I need to edit employee hours. how do I delete or edit hours?

[swo]

Hi @happy-belly. You can view and edit your employees hours by going to the Shifts > Labor tab in Dashboard. You can use the date-selector to view shifts for your current payroll period. Once you’ve located the employee’s shift in question, you can edit the clock in/out date and time, or choose to delete the shift to remove it permanently. You can learn more about using Shifts with Square Payroll in our Support Center.

[kimdoeshair]

Why can’t I turn on a square payroll account after it was turned off.  I had to open a second square account just to run payroll.  

[swo]

Hi kimdoeshair, Thanks for your question! In order to ensure accuracy in filings on the backend, we currently don’t allow sellers to close and re-open Square Payroll accounts. Recognizing time lapses for sellers re-opening a Square Payroll account is something we’re actively looking into!

[Koromahamad]

I am having troubleshooting with square payroll especially when it comes for the payment of monthly membership fee and team members. I am expecting my business registration certificate at any time from now and at the same time I want to pay my membership fee. Is there any I can pay now with out using the square payroll system.

[swo]

Hi Koromahamad, you can actually start the Payroll onboarding process and get set up to pay your employees! With Square’s pay structure, you won’t get charged your subscription fee until after your first pay run! 

[swo · Accepted solution]

First and foremost, thank you to everyone who participated in our 2021 Switching Season Q&A. Your questions and feedback were valuable and informative. All comments from this Q&A will be reviewed by the Payroll team as we continue to find new ways to best serve our customers. 

Additionally, I wanted to share a recap of the main themes that were revealed in this Q&A:

Multi-location support is crucial.

As you grow, you want Square Payroll to grow with you. Supporting multiple ​​Employer Identification Numbers (EINs) is top of mind for our team. We plan to start the foundational work to support multiple EINs under one Square Payroll account in 2022. In general, we’ll be prioritizing the expansion of our multi-location functionality. Our goal is to support you at every level of your growth as a business. 

Tip Splitting operations are unique to each business.

We hear you. Each business operates differently and there’s no one size fits all solution to tip splitting. While we’ve made progress on this front by introducing tip splitting by shift and transaction, there’s still work to be done. We want to help you easily customize tip splitting in a way that works best for your business. We’ll continue to collaborate with all teams at Square to ensure all sellers can customize and implement the tip splitting programs they desire. 

Employee Onboarding should be easy and accurate! 

Properly getting your employees set up to be paid is the first step in a smooth switching process. We want to ensure that your employees can onboard without difficulty. Currently, employees can enroll in Square Payroll via the Team App or their web browser. As always, don’t hesitate to contact our Square Customer Success team if your employees are having trouble with this process. 

Again, thanks for your participation in our Switching Season Q&A. We’ve launched a ton of new features this year and we look forward to launching even more in 2022. Remember, this is the best time of year to switch payroll providers and we’re here to help. You can review more information about Square Payroll here or get started with Square Payroll your Square online dashboard.

[LaurenM]

Our business really appreciates everyone's hard work in investigating and implementing new features for Square Payroll! For us, the most excited addition will be the multiple EINs under one account. We usually have anywhere from 10 - 30 employees for two businesses. The ability to complete payroll for multiple locations under one account without having to manually type in the time card hours would be wonderful! Very excited for this feature to be implemented! 

[dutchmonkey]

Same here--we have around 20 employees between our two businesses and are currently using one business as a pay agent for the other to work around this. I don't want to set up a separate payroll account for the second location simply because their scheduling, time clock, and tip pooling are all run through the primary account. To have each employee needing two Square Team logins--one for the scheduling system and time clock, but another for payroll, seems too difficult. 

[kimwaite]

I am trying to pay my employees from different a location out of different bank accounts. Can I do that under one payroll account?

[essentialnails]

Hi there!

I have a question about importing commissions. Some of my technicians are paid weekly and some of my technicians prefer to be paid bi-weekly. How do I change the pay period for individual technicians?